Coming Home
by Cougar Draven
Summary: This is part three of ten or more, but they'll all stand alone. CSI universe and Star Trek universe, with OCs added in for added humor. Hmmm...Captain Horatio Caine? RR or something! Chapter 2 up, 3 on the way! M for language.
1. A Bit of Glory

"And that would be reason number forty-seven why I don't really understand the stardate system." 

"Really, my dear? Aren't you credited with reinventing it?"

Rear Admiral Jessica Hetfield sat in the chair she earned, as the First Officer of the USS Ascendancy-B. A Sovereign-class ship, the Ascendancy-B had been launched six months earlier, on stardate 63463. John, by then a full Admiral, had done some calculations and determined that the date was somewhere in June of 2386.

"No, love. I just suggested the change to them. They adopted it of their own volition."

It was nearing the end of the year, and Ascendancy was almost ready to begin her main function: the trans-dimensional construct intended to open a path back to where the Hetfields and their closest advisors came from.

The Ascendancy was the third ship to bear her registry number, that of NCC-2837, and she had a skeleton crew of seven. Each of the seven had a specialty different from the rest; John was a tactical and technology expert, having spent sixteen years in Borg assimilation. Jess was an engineering expert, who kept the engines in tip-top shape. Their son, Captain John Hetfield Jr., was the ship's doctor. John Sr.'s brother, Captain Jerry Patterson, was a negotiator and diplomat. The other three crew, another father-mother-son family, were a war hero, a helmsman, and an astrologist, who ran Stellar Cartography.

John, who was alone on the bridge, except for his wife, clicked open a shipwide intercom.

"Okay, everyone. Brace yourselves. Shut down everything that isn't necessary. Replicators and life support stay, everything else goes. We're crossing the border, so sit tight for a while."

He turned to Jess, exhaling.

"Okay, babe. Engage the cloak, then hit the switch."

The Ascendancy, en route to Earth from Bajor and Deep Space Nine, flickered in space, vanishing from sight. Cloaked, nobody saw the awesome sight of a ship crossing dimensional boundaries.

------

CSI: Starfleet  
Book Three: Coming Home

------

In late March of the year 2007, Lt. John Hetfield was putting in a transfer to the Miami-Dade Police department, in preparation for moving there, while working with MDPD on a case that involved murders in three cities, all related to himself and friends of his. While there in late 2006, John's twin brother Jerry Patterson, a teacher at the time, went missing, and was assumed killed by a mobster, one Paul Frederick. On March 13th, 2007, Jerry Patterson was discovered by his twin brother inside a building just outside Miami. While in the process of evacuating his brother, John was captured, along with his wife, Lt. Jess Hetfield, and five-year-old son. A brave lieutenant attempted to get them out of the building, but it was hit with a small tactical nuclear missile, destroying it, and much of the surrounding area.

Ironically enough, while in Miami, Lts. John and Jess Hetfield were newcomers, they were well-liked, and would have made fantastic additions to the team, while the officer who attempted their rescue, one Lt. Horatio Caine, was the leader of the division they were going to transfer into.

All five were assumed dead.

------

It wasn't the first time they'd tested the construct. Fifty years earlier, John had been building a prototype of the construct, which he called the Machine, when the facility he was working in vanished. Two weeks later, he appeared with one thing and one body: The Machine prototype was functional, and the body of Marisol Delko Caine. He hadn't had any real destination, but had somehow emerged in the early summer of 2006, when Horatio was en route to Rio de Janiero to deal with Antonio Riaz. He had secretly removed Marisol's body from its coffin, and when he activated the Machine again, it had returned him to two weeks after he had left. Marisol had been revived, and reunited with Horatio. She joined Starfleet, like all had before her, and started learning about the stars and astrology. Her son with Horatio was born in the middle of the year 2337, and eventually became one of the best helmsmen in Starfleet history.

------

The Machine finished its run, alerting John that they had reached some sort of destination. He had input the coordinates, and was hoping to return to Miami sometime in the week following their departure, and so opened a listening channel, while his expression grew more and more grim with each passing second.

"This is not good."

He reached over and pressed a switch on the console next to him.

"H. Get up here. Use the P2P or whatever. In fact, everyone. Forget what I've just said. Meet me in Central Replication in an hour. I need some time to prepare for something. Keep everything off, and I'll tell you why in an hour."

He turned to Jess.

"Get to Central Rep, and start producing clothes. Get the stuff we all used to wear, but add a few necessities to the list. See the screen?"

"Yeah."

"Those. Seven of them. We're going in. Plus, some extra supplies."

"Got it. What're you doing?"

"I'm landing the Ascendancy on the Moon. We'll take a shuttlecraft. One of the few good things about being the most senior member of Starfleet Command was that I got cloaking devices on my shuttlecraft for my personal flagship. Now please, hurry. I've got logistics to worry about."

------

When the five refugees had awoken, they were still in Miami, it was just called New Miami then. They had checked, and they had emerged in early March of 2296. They took a year to settle down, and then began new lives. John and Jerry began attending Starfleet Academy in 2297, and Jessica and Horatio in 2298. When John Jr. was old enough in 2323, his father was becoming a Captain, his mother attaining the rank of Commander, his uncle had halted his career at Lieutenant, as had his "Uncle H", who finally allowed a promotion to Lieutenant Commander in 2325. John Jr. rose to Lt. Commander himself by 2334. In 2337, Marisol Caine joined, graduating as an Ensign in 2341, on the same day Horatio was promoted to Commander.

Four years later, John Hetfield disappeared, and was subsequently captured by the Borg. Jessica was promoted to Captain, John Jr. to Commander, and Jerry Patterson to Lt. Commander. Over the next nine years, John Jr., or JJ, was promoted to Captain, and Jerry to full Commander, and Marisol Caine rose to the rank of Lt. Commander.

In early 2362, during the final year of Horatio Jr.'s senior year at the Academy, the Ascendancy-A, on a routine patrol of the Beta Quadrant, picked up a shuttlecraft that was lost from the original Ascendancy in a remote sector of the Beta Quadrant sixteen years earlier. On it was Captain John Hetfield, Sr. He was quickly promoted to Rear Admiral, and was present to congratulate the graduating class of 2362, and Horatio Caine, Jr., on the same day he promoted both Horatio and Marisol Caine to Captain and Commander, respectively. He also promoted Jerry to Captain.

Over the next two decades, Horatio Jr., or "Little H", rose to the rank of Commander, and John implanted personal point-to-point transporters in all of them, technology he'd stolen from the Borg.

In 2383, all seven were serving on the aged Excelsior-class Ascendancy-A, when a wormhole erupted nearby the Terran system, and the newly promoted full Admiral Hetfield ordered her in. On the other side was the Borg homeworld. John ordered all crew to abandon ship, then took the Ascendancy in. He escaped aboard a well-placed shuttlecraft as the Ascendancy-A crash-landed near the central core of the Borg collective, then remote-detonated the warp core, destroying much of the planet. The shuttlecraft was thrown through the wormhole, but was lost adrift for two years. He was discovered in August of 2385, when the shuttle drifted back into Sol's system, and crash-landed on Earth's Moon.

Six months later, Admiral Hetfield requested, and received, a personal flagship, of the Sovereign class. She was christened USS Ascendancy, 2837-B, and launched in June 2386.

------

John stood facing all of his friends and family, who had dressed themselves in clothing common to the home time of the five who had lived in the early 21st century. He had each handed them a gun, a SIG SAUER P220 SAO. For the entire career, he had requested they undergo firearms training, weekly at minimum. During his sixteen-year captivity, Jessica and Horatio had kept his word for him, and all seven were experts with projectile weapons of all varieties.

John looked them over, nodding at what he saw. Perhaps the younger ones were a bit too rigid, because they'd never been to this time as adults, but John, Jessica, and Horatio had been police officers during this time.

"Okay, I've got some disturbing news, at least to those who are from around now. It is June 1st, 2009. We are officially over two years late. Earth is in shambles. What looks like a mild war has been going on since January, when the new President of the United States took office."

He looked at his best friend, who had been with him for ninety years.

"H, it's Paul Frederick. He's pulled some strings, and Phil is a General in the Marine Corps. Everything, especially Miami and New York, is in a shambles. But there's something worse. The Governor of Florida is now Charles Mather, the puppet of the Fredericks. They've moved the seat of government from Tallahassee to Miami, and they've installed a new mayor of Miami. The man's name is Clavo Cruz. Yes, H, that Clavo Cruz. I checked. I'll explain more on the way in. All right, let's go."

Everybody started towards the shuttle bay, but John caught Horatio's arm.

"Wait, H. I've got something for you."

He reached inside the front pocket of his leather jacket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses that had seen a lot of wear and tear, but had not actually been worn in ninety years, and handed them to Horatio.

"I grabbed them from the old ship before I left. I was meaning to give them to you, but I'd forgotten about them, until I saw the obituary photos they put up for all of us. You ready?"

"Obituaries? For all of us?"

"Yeah."

Captain Horatio Caine put his old sunglasses on, then looked at his friend and colleague.

"Then it's time for us to return from the dead."

------

A lone shuttlecraft left the shuttle bay, cloaked. Inside, Cmdr. Horatio Caine, Jr. piloted the small landing craft, while John explained what he had learned during his hour-long browsing of their former home.

"It's not good. All of the Miami Crime Lab is either dead or in prison. I think I located all of them in prison, but there are really no guarantees. The same goes for much of New York, based on both the proximity, and the fact that I think Paul Frederick searched for every trace we left behind. We may have a few safe zones left, though. You all have the P2P transmitters active, right? Good. I have missions for everyone. Jerry, you canvass Sussex Ridge. Jess, take Marisol, Little H, and JJ, and go through Lewiston. I need to know everyone who we know that are there. As soon as you get word, communicate, and use the P2P to get to the location Horatio and I will be at. Here, Little H, let me land it. I know where we're going."

John dropped the five he had detailed at their respective locations, then took off, going southwest. Horatio glanced at him quizzically.

"Where are we going, John?"

"The only refuge I could find."

John accelerated, flying over the Plains.

"Las Vegas."

------

John landed the shuttlecraft on the roof of a hotel nearby the LVPD's Crime Lab, then he and Horatio, after hiding their weapons, made their way down to street level.

John was wearing black khakis, a black tank, and his black leather jacket, as well as sunglasses, something he'd worn since he was 19, back in 2001. Horatio was wearing grey pants, and a grey-and-white dress shirt, topping it off with both a blazer matching the pants, and his trademark sunglasses. All things considered, they made an intimidating team as they entered the Crime Lab.

John checked both ways, ensuring their safety, then walked directly up to the counter.

"Uh, hi. May I ask who is in charge of the Crime Lab?"

"That would be me. And who are you?"

John turned to see a six-foot man, African-American, with brown hair kept close-cut.

"Warrick Brown, right?"

"Right. Who are you?"

"That's not exactly important right now. Do you have an office where the three of us might speak?"

"Right this way."

------

Jerry Patterson knew Sussex, Michigan, so he went straight for the police department, instead of checking for his mother and step-father. When he got in, he saw a familiar face behind the front desk.

"Karen? Karen Austin?"

The girl looked up, her eyes quickly widening with shock.

"Jerry Patterson? But you're, you're--"

"Dead, right. I'll explain. Later. I need you to tell me who runs the Crime Lab right now. A couple of years ago, if you'll recall, I needed their help. Is anyone still here?"

"No, Jerry, they're all transferred or in prison. We have a whole new crew. You probably don't know them."

"Well, I'll need to speak to them. What are their names?"

"The two who run everything are Nick Stokes and Catherine Willows."

"...you're kidding me, right?"

"No, no, I'm not."

"Well, hell. Which one of them is in right now?"

------

Jessica, Marisol, and their sons canvassed Lewiston City. Jessica knew most of the layout, but enough had changed to worry her. Eventually, they finally went to the police department, inquiring about the heads of the Crime Lab.

"Jess? Lt. Jessica Hetfield? Is that you?"

They all turned at the accent, clearly a man from New York. He wasn't too tall, and he wore glasses, but Jess brightened considerably.

"Danny! What are you doing here?"

Danny Messer frowned, shaking his head slightly.

"We all split in 2007. Everyone. I could ask the same of you."

"It's a long story. Is it safe here?"

"It's safer back at my place. I've got a few other people you might like to meet."

------

"Ok, sir, what is your name?"

"I didn't want to tell you in public. My name is John Hetfield."

Warrick's eyes widened, then he looked John up and down, and Horatio as well, before responding.

"I'd love to believe you, sir, but it seems unlikely. I suppose you're Horatio Caine, right?"

"That's right. You can test our DNA, can't you?"

"I suppose. I'll have Greg Sanders run it. He's one of the only ones left to trust."

Two hours later, John and Horatio were interrupted by Warrick Brown and Greg Sanders. Greg spoke first.

"Well, two things. One, it truly is a pleasure to be in the presence of two legends."

John and Horatio glanced at him quizzically, and he continued.

"Two, welcome back to life. You've been missing, and assumed dead, for over two years."

"We know. We came here because it's safe."

"Not really. We're all that's left. Well, Sofia, too, but she's not all here sometimes."

"Where did everyone go?"

"Grissom and Sara got married and retired to California, for one."

"Somehow, Warrick, I'm not surprised. I saw it coming. What about the others?"

"Cath and Nick transferred to Sussex, Michigan. Doc Robbins had a heart attack last year, and Ecklie was killed in a shootout with Frederick's boys. That was before you guys went missing, but you were in New York at the time."

Horatio's communicator buzzed, and he left the room to take it, while John and Warrick continued talking about it. When he came back in, he motioned to John.

"Marisol called. She said we need to be in Lewiston, pronto, and Jerry says we need to get to Sussex. He found Stokes and Willows. Apparently, someone is waiting for us in Lewiston, but nobody would tell me who."

"All right...tell them to wait. We'll take the shuttle, I could give a shit about being seen. We have to stop in California, and then we'll hit Michigan. Warrick, Greg, are you coming?"

"Wouldn't miss this for the world."

------

San Diego, California was nothing new for Sara Grissom. She had been in and out of the entire West coast during her childhood, and after her marriage to Gil Grissom in the fall of 2007, and his retirement from crime scene investigation, they had moved to San Diego to get away from the old life, but, as always, the old life followed them.

"Warrick. It's been a long time."

"Yeah, Sara, it has. You guys never visit."

"The same could be said for you and Greg. And Catherine and Nick. And Keppler."

"We know why Keppler doesn't visit. Cath and Nick too. The team split after you two left. We just couldn't keep it together, that's all."

"I understand, I guess. So what's going on?"

"Nothing, really. Griss in?"

"I am now."

Warrick turned around, and saw the man, in his early fifties, still the same, but for hair of a little more salt than pepper.

"Grissom, how've you been?"

"You didn't come to ask us how we've been. What's going on, Warrick?"

"Uh, there's someone who wanted to talk to you."

Warrick pointed behind himself, and they looked at the two men walking up to the three of them, when it dawned on Grissom exactly what was happening.

"Lt. John Hetfield?"

"Uh...yeah, we'll call it that for now. Dr. Grissom, how have you been? And I did come here to ask that."

"I've been fine, considering that I've believed a capable colleague to be deceased in error for two years. And you would be Horatio Caine?"

"I would. Dr. Grissom, would you happen to know anything about Paul Frederick?"

"Other than the fact that he ordered the assassination of both you two, which caused the shootout in the Vegas Crime Lab that killed Conrad Ecklie, no, not really. Oh, except that there was some...commotion in Miami when his puppet was installed as Governor."

"Commotion?"

"That's all I know. Although, I do have two questions, John. One, how is it that two ordinary humans survive a nuclear explosion that destroys a quarter of a square mile of Miami?"

"That, we can explain later. Your other question?"

"You never showed me why you wear sunglasses in nighttime, as well as day."

John chuckled, then removed his sunglasses, revealing eyes of a deep crimson. He replaced his sunglasses, smirking at the expression on the faces of the Vegas Crime Scene Investigators, both retired and current.

"It helps to not stand out in a crowd. Now, you wanted to see that tech?"

------

Chapter 1: A Bit of Glory

------

A/N: Here's a new bit. The funny thing is that I haven't decided to unify this with my other CSI tale, something I'm calling CSI: Nationwide for now. It's definitely a branch of the same continuity, but I'm not entirely sure if I'm going to go with this, or run with the original plan. It's something like this.

CSI: Nationwide ----------------CSI: Nationwide II  
\--CSI: Starfleet

Essentially, I'm not sure whether or not I'm going to focus on the storyline in which the bomb that supposedly kills Horatio and Hetfield is nuclear, or one in which it's only a regular bomb, because that nuclear explosion makes for a large difference. Without it, at least one of them should have died.

Second, I have seen every episode of CSI: featuring Mike Keppler, up to the latest, "Meet Market", airing February 1st, 2007. It's the fourth episode that will feature Gil Grissom and Mike Keppler's past, and that might change. As of now, Mike Keppler is the new head of the New York Crime Scene Unit, because of the departure of the former crew, including Danny and Lindsay Messer, Stella Bonnasera, and Mac Taylor. Where the others are, I won't say, except that Danny and Lindsay were supposed to be hiding.

And yeah, I'll explain the "commotion" sometime in the next two chapters.


	2. The Miami Conundrum

"So, Mr. Hetfield, you were in the process of explaining your technology?" 

John Hetfield looked at Gil Grissom, smiled, then turned back to the helm of the shuttlecraft.

"I would, Dr. Grissom, but I hate having to explain myself multiple times. It's part of the reason why I wear my sunglasses, as I'm sure you can understand. You, after all, are a doctor."

"Yes, I was. I assume that's a medical condition."

"Genetic. I've been trying for my entire life to figure out how come I got it, and my twin brother didn't. Now, I would explain the reason why we're currently flying roughly six hundred feet off the ground, going about two thousand miles an hour, in a craft completely invisible, and not detectable by satellites. However, I know exactly how the explanation is going to sound, and I'd rather not sound stupid more than once, so I'll just wait until we are all assembled, at our final location."

"Well, where is our final location, and where are we?"

"We are currently landing, about three hundred miles east of our final location. Yes, I am aware that we are going out of our way. That's not a problem. If you'll excuse me, I have to go rendezvous with my brother, and your former coworkers. I'll be back."

John got out of the shuttlecraft, leaving it cloaked, and walked across the street from where it had been parked. Jerry had grown up in this town, and John had spent some time here before he became a full-time cop, so he knew the basic lay of the land, and he found the rondezvous point relatively easy. He saw his quarry, a beautiful blonde woman, and a rugged black-haired man, and he walked up to the table where his brother, a friend of theirs, and two CSIs from Las Vegas sat.

"Mr. Stokes, Ms. Willows. Oh, and hi, Karen. Jerry, you did good work."

"Told you I would. Now, Nick has some questions for you."

"Yeah, I do. How the hell did you know we were here?"

"I didn't, when I sent Jerry in. By some quirk of fate, he grew up in this town, so I figured he'd be best for recon. I honestly didn't know you two worked here until Warrick Brown told me. He's waiting for all of us to get there."

"All of us, John? How can we all fit?"

"Relax, Jer. It's only for about another ten minutes, we'll manage. It's only ten people total, and we've gotten more than that in there. Remember, everyone else is in Lewiston."

"True. I guess we should follow him."

"Indeed you should, Jerry. We have much to do today."

------

CSI: Starfleet Book Three: Coming Home

------

Fifteen minutes later, a small dust cloud belied the presence of something unseen, something that held ten people, all of whom disembarked. Meanwhile, the leader, a man dressed in all black, a man who would draw attention in the community, called his wife to draw a location.

"You're kidding me. You've got to be kidding me."

"I'm not, John. He said to just show up at the police station."

"Jess, I'm a wanted man. There are men in Florida that would shit pure gold bricks to have my head on a platter. But, fine. I'm sending Jerry with most of the crew. Horatio and I have business here. Tell Marisol we won't be long. I have one more person to bring to the powwow."

"Who?"

"That, I'm afraid, must wait for a personal visit, my dear."

John turned to the crowd, motioning Grissom, Horatio, and Jerry over to him.

"Ok, Dr. Grissom. Jerry will take you to the Lewiston Crime Lab, however meager it may be. Jessica says that she'll be waiting there with others. Horatio, I need you with me, we've got one more errand to run, being that these are my old stomping grounds. If I'm hearing right, it's supposedly relatively safe, compared to Las Vegas or Miami, but I'm not taking any big chances. Get there quick, get inside, and we'll be there soon."

The two former police and Starfleet officers split from the rest of the group, John leading Horatio through a neighborhood, until they came to a building that could only have one purpose.

"John, why are we at a high school?"

------

John and Horatio casually walked up to the front door of the high school, checking all avenues of escape as he did.

"I went to this high school. It may take some time convincing them of my identity, but I went here, and they have no reason not to let me see him."

"See who?"

"Horatio, check your right pants pocket. If my timing is right, you should have your old MDPD badge in there. I know, because I've got my Lewiston badge on me, and it's valid. We might not need them, but we can use them if we do."

John walked in the school, and straight up to the front desk.

"Hey, Anthony."

"John? They said you were dead."

"Yeah, so I've heard. It appears that the rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated, and in some cases, outright fabricated. I need to talk to Eric. He still goes here, right?"

"Yeah. Your pop walks him to school every day now. After you disappeared, he got concerned."

"Yeah. I always did feel like crap for leaving a little brother alone."

"What about Steve? He's still around, isn't he?"

"Anthony, between you, me, and Horatio here, I wouldn't trust Steve to die on time. He's going to have some insidious plan to kill me six years after he's dead, I'm sure. He's just like that. Where is he?"

"He's in the gym."

John and Horatio left Anthony, the doorman, at the front desk, and walked through the cafeteria, nodding at various teachers along the way, until they got to the gym. They looked in, and Horatio chuckled.

"So which one's your brother?"

"He's got black hair. Oh, and he's about seven feet tall. That should help. See him?"

"I see him. You waiting until he gets out?"

"No, that would draw too much attention. The less people that know I'm pulling him until after class, the better we are. I'd rather not face off with Frederick puppets yet. I'm sure that our presence will not go unnoticed."

"As am I. Let's go get him."

------

Eric Hetfield had a strange life, what with always being pulled in three directions. His father was always worried about him, and wanted him to be safe at all times, especially after what happened to John. On top of that, just after the inauguration of Paul Frederick, an agent from the Secret Service had attempted to coerce him into revealing information about John and Jerry that only his family would know. To round it all off, his eldest brother, Stephen, had contacted him about once a year, each time renewing an offer to join an underground that was working to upend everything. He knew that his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Delgado, was already in the underground, but he wasn't sure where he wanted to go on it.

Needless to say, seeing a badge walk into the gym where he was playing basketball wasn't exactly shocking. He walked over to the reddish-blond-haired cop, who he'd never seen before, by instinct, shaking hands with the man, and noting the Miami-Dade badge. The guy must have wanted to talk about John, because that's where John had wanted to move, and where he'd been killed.

"Eric, right?"

"Right. What can I do for you, Officer..."

"Caine. Just come with me. I have someone who wishes to have a few words with you."

He followed Horatio out of the gymnasium, and back to the locker room, where he changed, when he heard a voice from behind him.

"Two years, and you still use the same gym locker? Predictable, if nothing else."

Eric whirled, to see a black-haired man dressed in all black, and his jaw dropped.

"John?"

"One and the same. Get dressed, Eric. We don't have time to involve Dad in this, so make it quick. We need to get to the PD, and quick. Jessie's waiting there for us. Jerry too. And you'll finally get to meet your nephew, if you don't mind a bit of surrealism. Okay, a lot of surrealism."

Eric finished changing, leaving his school things in his gym locker, then followed his brother out of the locker room. John turned to Horatio.

"Anything, H?"

"No, it's been clear. I think the badge scared off most of the students."

"All right, let's go."

The three left through a door at the end of the hallway they were in, and started walking down the street, with Horatio and John flanking the seven-foot-tall Eric the whole way.

"Eric, does Dad still sit up at the store across the street to keep tabs on you and Jake?"

"Not anymore, at least not since I told Dad that I can take care of myself. And I can. Where the hell have you been, anyway?"

"I've been away. And that's not important. We've got shit to do, and I know you're smart enough to be trusted. That, and you would know better than anyone the effect my departure had. We're almost there."

At long last, the three walked in the door of the Lewiston City Police Department. Immediately remembering his old stomping grounds, John allowed himself to revel in his surroundings for an all-too-brief moment, before turning at a lowered utterance of his name, to see his wife. Eric immediately ran out and embraced his sister-in-law, who he hadn't seen in better than two years. Then the four walked back to a room with only one door, and no windows, where the rest of the group was waiting, with three people John and Horatio hadn't seen yet. Two of them were Daniel and Lindsay Messer, married in 2008, after moving to Lewiston, Illinois, and the third had medium-length dark blond hair, and a straightforward outlook on life.

"Hey, H."

"Hello, Mr. Wolfe."

------

The group listened, attentive, because Ryan Wolfe, for the first time in two years, was going to recount the events that had happened following the nuclear blast in Miami-Dade County that had supposedly taken the lives of Horatio Caine, John and Jessica Hetfield, and Jerry Patterson, as well as the five-year-old John Hetfield Jr.

"It was...oh, I'd say odd at first, then frantic. We didn't know for sure whether you were dead, or just missing, but when you didn't turn up after the first week, we started to lose hope. I mean, hell, H, it's been two years, and it was a nuclear bomb. I mean, come on, a nuclear fucking bomb!"

"I know, Ryan, but perhaps you could explain why you seem to be hiding, and why two other major labs in the country have split up."

"Well, in the week before and the month after, each lab suffered attacks. Bad ones. Vegas lost their assistant director in their attack, I believe. Stella Bonasera was wounded in the attempt on the New York lab, and, well...we almost lost Delko. He was hit in the chest when the attack started. We spent the next thirteen hours trying to defend our lab, and keep Eric alive. It was bullshit, anyway. Sometime in 2008, Frederick got the authority to declare people criminals. He used it on a lot of people, including some of the New York guys, but Miami got hit hard, because we fought the hardest. Every living person from the lab was declared a federal criminal, and arrested. Except me. I managed to get out, and showed up here. I found Danny and Lindsay, and I've been helping out here. Mac Taylor and Stella got out of New York before they were arrested, but...nobody's seen either one of them in over a year. They might be dead."

Danny looked uncomfortable, which caused Lindsay to pat his arm, reassuring him to his boss's continued existence. John, on the other hand, looked troubled, and stood up.

"JJ, I need you to come with me. The rest of you, stay safe. Eric, I can't legally arm you, so stay double safe. Get back home on time, and I'll see you tomorrow. If at all possible, don't let Dad catch on that you were out of school for the latter half of the day."

"You got it."

John leaned in close to Horatio for a moment, whispering.

"Horatio, I'd like it if the rest of you stayed here. JJ and I have some work to do. And, H? Leave your comlink on for a bit. I want to test something."

John and his son walked out of the room, and out of the door of the Police department, walking to their cloaked shuttlecraft, which took off silently, and left the orbit of the Earth, heading for the Moon.

------

"So, Ryan, how was Eric last time you saw him?"

"He was still recovering from a gunshot to the chest, and he was in prison at Starke. What's our move?"

"We get him out of there, that's our move. We should probably wait for John and JJ to get back, and then we'll bust Starke. Although, I do have some ideas. First, Jess, as ranking officer, I cede command to you."

Most of the Earthbound assembly glanced at each other, confused at the transfer of power, but Jess smiled and shook her head.

"Horatio, I was never a command officer. You were, and I've never had a problem with John naming you as his XO. You were in command here, too. I am ceding it back to you. Your ideas?"

"We need civilian transport. Something that won't be obvious as police transportation. I need someone to work on getting us transported to Miami. Is there anyone left in Miami, Ryan?"

"Uh, no."

Warrick Brown, who had remained strangely silent, for a CSI supervisor, spoke up.

"Uh, I know of one guy. Not your typical cop, had some rough patches, and we didn't all like him much, Nick, but he's working in Miami now. He was tapped to help create the new crew down there, especially after what happened."

"What's his name?"

"Mike Keppler."

------

John and JJ had boarded the Ascendancy, and had taken off from the Moon. John looked at his son, then pushed a few switches.

"Let's hope I can still pinpoint the Machine. If I can't, we may be out of the loop again. Also, I wanted you to run some tests on me."

For the second time in her life, the Ascendancy traveled through time and space, roughly three years earlier. And while the ship was crossing the boundaries, John Hetfield, Jr. was running diagnostic tests on his father.

------

"Keppler was a Jersey native, like our Captain, Jim Brass. He came out of there pretty messed up, and ended up in Vegas, only for a while, we weren't sure if he was a dirty cop or not. Honestly, we tried to trust him, but we weren't sure. This was while Griss was on sabbatical. When he came back, we almost had to arrest Keppler, but we ended up letting him in the lab after this big mess with a dirty cop friend of his, and he ended up replacing Ecklie, after he got shot."

"So how did he end up in Miami?"

"After you all went off the grid, and the Miami crew was taken down, Miami-Dade County put out a nationwide plea begging for help. Mike decided that since he'd been searching for a new life for almost his entire adult life, he'd try to rebuild what they'd lost, and transferred in. That's when our team split. All of us got the supervisory nod, except Greg, who was still Level 2 at the time. We couldn't decide, though, but another call got put out. Sussex Ridge, Michigan, another leading power, apparently partially through the influence of Lt. John Hetfield, had become one of the top ten labs in the nation, serving Detroit, Toledo, and all of that area, but they had lost their supervisor to a conviction in New York. When Griss and Sara got married, and Griss retired, Sara decided to take an early retirement by transfer, and that's when they went to San Diego. Cath decided she wanted to take the Sussex job, and since neither Nick or I wanted to let her go alone, we flipped a coin. Ok, not really, but we did decide that since I was married, and Nick wasn't, that it would be best for him to go."

"Yes, I suppose I can understand that. Is he any good?"

"Yeah, creepy good. When he does what he does, he does it very, very well."

Warrick was about to continue, when they heard gunshots from the main lobby. Horatio and Wolfe had their guns drawn in seconds, and were dashing into the corridor. Jerry drew his gun, and headed toward the door, looking at the others.

"Keep Eric safe. We'll be back, soon."

Horatio and Ryan beat a path to the gunfire, where they found Lewiston P.D. in a shootout with what appeared to be men who worked for Paul Frederick. The two former coworkers immediately opened fire, and struck down two of the six men with their opening volleys. The four remaining split their fire, and managed to hit Ryan in the chest, and he went down. Horatio was torn between stopping to check on Ryan, and continuing his fire, when a third volley opened behind the intruders, and all four of them fell. Horatio hit his knees, checking Ryan's wound, which while severe, was not fatal. He called over the other officers to tend him, then went to see who had saved their lives. When he saw the identities, his knees buckled, and the one who had been closest to him caught him.

"Whoa, big brother. It's all right."

Raymond Caine and John Hetfield stood in front of JJ Hetfield, and a fourth man, a man who Horatio had not seen since 2003. John saw the look on his longtime friend's face, and laughed.

"Don't worry, Horatio. I'm sure Mr. Speedle has learned to clean his gun."

------

Chapter 2: The Miami Conundrum

------

A/N: Ok, so I had to change some small things, like the location of Mike Keppler, but damn. damn, damn damn, ain't that a kickass final line?

Honestly, I didn't know if I was going to get this done tonight. I had originally stopped at the revelation of Ryan Wolfe, and was going to pick it up after I had gotten some sleep, but a piece of gum and an episode of CSI: Miami (Season 2 sometime, "MIA/NYC Nonstop") got me going again, and I was able to finish this next chapter in my massive convolution of continuities. Yes, I'll explain the re-introduction of both Raymond Caine and Tim Speedle into the storyline, but suffice it to say I pulled a Marisol. (From Chapter 1.)

So it's now 6:30 on the morning of January 5th. David Caruso and Adam Rodriguez are on the Early Show in about a half an hour, and tonight, Eric Delko will die, if my predictions are correct. And they usually are, at least when it comes to TV.

By the by, I am planning on (eventually) retiring use of both the USS Ascendancy and the shuttlecraft, preferring use of more conventional means of travel, but that will only be for the duration of this series. At the end, John Hetfield and Horatio Caine will again be crossing the dimensional line, but they will not be alone, as President Paul Frederick will be going with. In fact, I think I'm just going to begin the countdown to the endgame with the end of this part. So the end of this, which should be about chapter 7 or 8, will be the end of the story, the end of CSI: Starfleet, and the beginning of the end of the whole saga.

Oh, and I've decided. Nationwide II is officially scrapped. I've got too many other things to deal with.

One last thing, as a bit of a post-script. Eric Delko shall not die. As in my fanfictional scenario, their fictional scenario has him getting gravely wounded, but surviving. Also a bit of an aside, David Caruso referred to Eric Delko as Horatio's "brother-in-law", which is technically false, even though they're close enough friends to be brothers.

And I was right all along. I knew it would be Delko two weeks ago, within minutes of reading the episode preview. This should make for some interesting fanfics, though. I estimate about 1 in every 2289 stories feature the death of Eric Delko normally, but for the demographic taken in the next two weeks, I'd bet it's more like 1 in 3. That's a massive rate jump. The probability...shit, I hate the human element.

Also, I really hate CBS for what they did to Keppler. I was starting to like him.


End file.
